Neighbors Helping Neighbors

IBSS has a heart for giving back and has been working on projects in the community around our headquarters in Silver Spring, MD for many years. We are proud that our efforts have expanded to Woods Hole and Falmouth, MA, where our IBSS Northeast office is located. 

As staff members who live in the area around our headquarters were volunteering their time to help feed families in need, our Northeast office was reaching out to assist their local community. 

The Northeast office is on Cape Cod, and when families face hard times in that area, the first place they turn to is the Falmouth Service Center (FSC) which is the main support services location for families in need in the Upper Cape. 

The culture on Cape Cod is that neighbors help neighbors. FSC is like a lighthouse shining in the center of the community, so it was natural for IBSS to align with the biggest neighbor in the neighborhood. 

With the holidays upon us, the Northeast office was happy to step up and meet the needs to help their neighbors. The Northeast team decided on several ways to give back: donations for  Thanksgiving food drive, holiday toy drive, and toiletries drive. As the team geared up to give, they faced limitations around the methods of giving, but that only challenged their determination. 

During the holiday season, what could be more natural than a food drive? Due to the pandemic, FSC was not able to collect food. That did not stop our team. Instead of donating food, our headquarters made a monetary donation to assist the FSC’s food pantry that provides groceries to local families in need. 

Our team also supported the FSC’s Holiday donations drive. Due to the pandemic, the FSC chose not to accept toy donations for Christmas, and opted, instead, to request gift cards from the community, which would allow children to directly select their Christmas gifts, minimizing the risk of exposure. To make sure that children would still have gifts, IBSS staff members donated gift cards from local stores, which received a company matching gift. 

FSC had put out a request for numerous toiletry items and was able to receive these items. Individual toiletry items are assembled into bags, which are then distributed to families in need. The toiletry bags are designed to provide for the needs of a family, so all items are full sized and typically last a family for a month. Since no restrictions had been placed on these donations, the team decided to pool their efforts towards this initiative. 

The team purchased the individual toiletry items and had planned to gather together to assemble the individual items into large gift bags, and while these plans were waylaid by the pandemic, it did not stop their giving heart. Lacey Bluemel, our Northeast Program Manager, gathered the donated items and set aside her own time to assemble bags. 

Each gift bag contained shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, 4 bars of soap, toothpaste, dental floss, a family pack of toothbrushes, woman’s and men’s deodorants, disposable razors, shaving cream, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer.  The IBSS team donated enough toiletry items to supply bags for 25 families. 

“From the grocery carts filled with toiletries; to the gift cards from Eight Cousins, Olympia Sports, and Walmart in support of our Holiday Toy program for Falmouth children; and the cash gift in support of FSC’s weekly grocery distribution program that addresses issues of food insecurity, we are so grateful for this support. FSC’s mission is ‘to ease stress, reduce hunger and improve the quality of life for our neighbors in need.’ Your clear belief in this mission, as evidenced by the gifts from IBSS and its employees, is most gratifying”, said Kerin Delaney, FSC Executive Director, in a letter of acknowledgment to IBSS. 

Nothing was going to stop our Northeast team from supporting the community and shining light on difficult times! IBSS is grateful to this team for expanding the reach of our volunteer efforts and for supporting several of FSC’s initiatives, despite pandemic setbacks.